Unsolicited and otherwise undesirable telephone calls, e-mails and faxes have become something of a ubiquity in today's highly prized communications age. Ironically, and almost inevitably, in advancing the art, users of wireless subscribers are now experiencing similar types of unsolicited messages and/or telecommunications at their handsets and/or mobile devices, including unsolicited SMS (‘SMS spam’), MMS, and EMS, among others. Particularly prevalent in Europe (owing principally to the more mature SMS and MMS market presence and usage therewith), it remains readily apparent that the problem will soon spread quantitatively and geographically.
Elements of the prior art as U.S. Patent Application 20030083078 by Allison et al., entitled methods and systems for preventing delivery of unwanted short message service (SMS) messages, which discloses a method whereby a signaling message processing and routing node transmits and receives short message service (SMS) data packets via a communications network, and therewith includes an SMS message discrimination module that determines whether an unwanted or spam SMS message is being sent to a receiving or called party. Nonetheless said application by Allison et al., inevitably remains tied to the prevention of SMS only, and appears to be GSM/IMSI-centric, as well as constrained by reliance upon SS7/SIP signaling. Indeed, our invention of present remains unconstrained by such considerations, and indeed, applies filtering rules and paradigms to incoming messages from ESMEs (i.e. on content received via an API or via a SMPP, UCP, MMX interface), and/or to all forms of asynchronous communications including, but not limited to, SMS, MMS and EMS. Our invention additionally provides for the application of network-side filtering to a broader set of network protocols including those prescribed by the TIA (ANSI-41), and may also filter media and telecommunications, based on the current location and presence status of the subscriber, and in alternate embodiments may store unsolicited informational and marketing oriented messages (‘spam’) to be viewed in an off-line state.
Other teachings from the prior art include U.S. Patent Application 20030074397 by Morin et al., entitled system and method to control sending of unsolicited communications over a network, however, such art remains irrelevant to the teachings discloses in our application as Morin et al. effectively employ an intermediary agent to relay content (akin to its own messaging service).
U.S. Patent Application 20030021244 by Anderson, D., entitled methods and systems of blocking and/or disregarding data and related wireless terminals and wireless service providers, provides a means for determining whether a packet of data received at a wireless terminal is from an acceptable source (and then processed accordingly therewith). However, the paucity in the disclosure by Anderson is that it blocks packets for designated sources (i.e. IP addresses or equivalent addresses), that is, while it will allow or disallow an SMS Server, it cannot block SMS's based on a finer granularity (i.e. the actual originating address such as the External Short Message Entity (ESME) identifier or MSISDN for instance).
WIPO Patent Application (WO) 03026331 by Jaeaelinoja et al., entitled method and apparatus for processing messages, discloses a method for processing SMS or MMS messages in a gateway, comprising the steps of classifying the messages based on their certain characteristics and processing the classified messages based on certain processing code that takes the classification into account. The principal delineation between such art and that of the present seeking the protection of Letters Patent remains that Jaeaelinoja et al. focuses on filtering on the input to the SMS-C (i.e. via the SMPP or equivalent protocol). Likewise, German Patent No. 10114649 to Koehler U., entitled method for selecting consignees within telephone- or cell-phone network, requires initially comparing incoming subscriber directory numbers and/or authorized information with stored subscriber numbers, discloses a method whereby a subscriber sets a filter via a control code and a short message service, or via the internet, into the information control (SMSC) assigned to him, on the basis of his subscriber number identification or on the basis of a password, or according to the call, e-mail or WAP, which blocks incoming information already in the information control, or switches it thorough. Nonetheless, the patent seems to presume that the functionality resides in the SMS-C. Indeed, much art is directed and constrained by over-reliance on the SMS-C and its known functionality.